Nine Home Matches Highlight 2019 WSOC Slate

CINCINNATI - Neil Stafford, the seventh-year head coach of the University of Cincinnati women's soccer program, has announced his team's 2019 schedule, a slate that includes 18 regular season matches, nine of which will be played in Cincinnati, and the return of crosstown rival Xavier to the schedule. Additionally, the Bearcats will face five foes that competed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament with three - Northwestern, Memphis and USF - all visiting the Queen City during the season. 

// TURNING 40
The 2019 season will mark the 40th of varsity women's soccer at the University of Cincinnati. The program, which got its start in 1980, has compiled 387 wins all-time and is three victories away at home this season from reaching 200 (197-102-31). Throughout the program's history, the Bearcats have captured nine conference crowns with the most recent coming in 2015 with the AAC Tournament crown. The championship haul began in its first year as UC won the inaugural Midwest Intercollegiate Women's Soccer League tournament title that was hosted by Miami (Ohio) as the Bearcats downed Michigan State (4-1) in the final. Additionally, the program has competed in eight national tournaments, starting with the 1981 AIAW Tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C. Since then, the Bearcats have competed in the NCAA Tournament seven times, reaching as high as the Sweet Sixteen in the 2001 event.

// EARLY GOING
Ahead of the season, the Bearcats will take part in a pair of preseason exhibitions. First, UC will travel north to Dayton and face the Flyers in the first exhibition of the season on Monday, August 12. Then, three days later (Thursday, August 15), UC will welcome Illinois-Chicago to Cincinnati for the final tune-up before the regular season gets underway.

// NON-CONFERENCE
The Bearcats will take part in nine non-conference matches with four taking place at home, including the return of crosstown rival Xavier to the slate. The season will open with UC facing a former conference foe in St. John's when the two meet in a neutral site contest at James Madison (Harrisonburg, Va.) on Opening Night (Thursday, August 22). Three days later, the Bearcats will face Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., a team that reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament last year and knocked UC out of the 2015 NCAA event, the Bearcats' last appearance in the national tournament. From there, the Bearcats will venture to Columbia, Mo., to face Missouri on Thursday, August 29.

With the first three matches of the season taking place away from campus, Sunday, September 1, will be the first regular season home match of 2019 for the Bearcats as they are set to welcome Western Michigan to town. Then, September 5 (Thursday), UC will welcome Northwestern to town to being a stretch of three in a row against NCAA participants. The next two matches will see UC venture to both Tennessee (Sunday, September 18) and Lipscomb (Thursday, September 12) to face teams that reached the NCAA Quarterfinals and NCAA Second Round, respectively.

Sunday, September 15, will see the Bearcats back in town for a pair of home matches in a row as rival Xavier returns to the schedule for the first time since 2015. The meeting between the Bearcats and Musketeers, who are led by former UC assistant coach Nate Lie, is slated for a 6 p.m. start that night. The two-match home stand comes to a close Saturday, September 21, with a visit from Austin Peay for the first meeting between the two sides.

// THE AMERICAN
Following the match with the Governors, the Bearcats will jump into their conference slate as the opening weekend of AAC sees UC traveling to Temple and UConn for matches Thursday, September 26, and Sunday, September 29, respectively. After playing 11 matches in the opening five weeks of play, UC will have its open week from AAC play October 3-6 before returning to action at home with visits from both Memphis (Thursday, October 10), an NCAA participant from last year, and Tulsa (Sunday, October 13). The meeting with the Tigers will be the first of two at home the Bearcats will play against a 2018 AAC champion as UM won the AAC Tournament last year.

Thursday, October 17, the Bearcats return to the road for the last time in the 2019 regular season as they head to the Lone Star State. The weekend will see UC face SMU in Dallas October 17 before closing the trip at Houston on Sunday, October 20. From there, the Bearcats will play host to its final three regular season contests as they will welcome USF (Thursday, October 24), UCF (Sunday, October 27) and ECU (Thursday, October 31). The Bulls are the reigning regular season champions in the AAC.

// POSTSEASON PLAY
The AAC has changed up its postseason structure for 2019 in when and where the matches will take place. Following the regular season, the Top 6 on the league table will advance to the AAC Tournament. The AAC First Round will be played Sunday, November 3, at campus sites with the #4 seed hosting the #5 seed while the #3 seed hosts the #6 seed. The winners of those two contests will advance to the semifinals that will be played at the site of the #1 seed on Thursday, November 7. The winners of the semifinal will play for the title and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament Saturday, November 9, also at the #1 seed's home venue. The NCAA selection show will be held Monday, November 11, with the tournament starting Friday, November 15.

// TOUGH FOES
Combined, the nine teams UC will face in the non-conference portion of the season went 99-64-19 (.596) last year with six of those nine winning at least 10 matches. Included on that list are both Tennessee (16-3-3) and Lipscomb (15-5-5). Adding in the AAC foes on the slate, the Bearcats will face 11 teams with 10 or more wins last year with Memphis (17-4-0) and USF (15-4-0) registering the most wins of any team in the league.

// ODDS AND ENDS
• 2019 will mark the 40th season of Bearcats women's soccer
• Cincinnati holds an all-time record of 387-285-64 in its previous 39 campaigns
• The season-opening match with St. John's will mark just the second time UC has opened a campaign with a neutral-site match after falling to New Mexico, 2-0, at Purdue to open the 2004 season
• UC will face both Virginia Tech and Tennessee on the road; the last time UC played each team was also the only time the Bearcats have played them and each came in the NCAA Tournament with UC falling to the Hokies in 2015 and Volunteers in 2002
• The Bearcats have never faced Missouri, but have played two of its branch campuses, holding a 3-0-0 record against MU-Rolla and a 4-4-0 mark against MU-St. Louis with all games played in the 1980's
• UC will play two games against foes from the Big East (SJU and Xavier) and two from the SEC (Tennessee and Missouri) while also playing one each from the ACC, MAC, Big Ten, Atlantic Sun and Ohio Valley
• The last time UC faced Xavier was in 2015 with the match ending in a scoreless draw... UC leads the all-time series, 25-6-1

// OPPONENT CAPSULES
St. John's Red Storm
Thursday, August 22 at Harrisonburg, Va. (neutral)
2018 Season: 9-9-1 (5-3-1 Big East)
Postseason: none
Series History: CIN leads, 3-1-0 (CIN, W3)
Last Time: CIN def. SJU, 1-0 (2ot) at CIN (Sept. 21, 2012)

Virginia Tech Hokies
Sunday, August 25 at Blacksburg, Va. (away)
2018 Season: 11-8-3 (5-5-0 ACC)
Postseason: NCAA Third Round (L, 0-3, #3 North Carolina)
Series History: VT leads, 1-0-0 (VT, W1)
Last Time: #12 VT def. CIN, 4-0, at VT (Nov. 14, 2015) in NCAA Tournament

Missouri Tigers
Thursday, August 29 at Columbia, Mo. (away)
2018 Season: 6-11-2 (3-6-1 SEC)
Postseason: SEC First Round (L, 2-3 2ot, LSU)
Series History: first meeting

Western Michigan Broncos
Sunday, September 1 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 14-7-0 (7-4-0 MAC)
Postseason: MAC Semifinals (L, 0-1, Ball State)
Series History: CIN leads, 1-0-0 (CIN, W1)
Last Time: CIN def. WMU, 1-0, at CIN (Sept. 5, 2010)

Northwestern Wildcats
Thursday, September 5 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 10-5-4 (4-4-3 Big Ten)
Postseason: NCAA Tournament First Round (L, 0-1, NC State)
Series History: Tied, 2-2-1 (CIN, W2)
Last Time: CIN def. NW, 2-1, at NW (Sept. 3, 2017)

Tennessee Volunteers
Sunday, September 8 at Knoxville, Tenn. (away)
2018 Season: 16-3-3 (7-2-1 SEC)
Postseason: NCAA Quarterfinals (L, 0-2, #1 Stanford)
Series History: TENN leads, 1-0-0 (TENN, W1)
Last Time: TENN def. CIN, 2-1, at TENN (Nov. 17, 2002) in the NCAA Tournament

Lipscomb Bisons
Thursday, September 12 at Nashville, Tenn. (away)
2018 Season: 15-5-2 (7-1-0 ASUN)
Postseason: NCAA Second Round (L, 0-3, #9 Duke)
Series History: CIN leads, 2-0-1 (CIN, W2)
Last Time: CIN def. LIP, 2-1 (OT) at CIN (Sept. 13, 2018)

Xavier Musketeers
Sunday, September 15 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 10-8-3 (4-3-2 Big East)
Postseason: Big East Semifinal (L, 1-3, #4 Georgetown)
Series History: CIN leads, 25-6-1 (T1)
Last Time: CIN tied XAV, 0-0 (2ot) at XAV (Sept. 20, 2015)

Austin Peay Governors
Saturday, September 21 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 8-8-1 (3-6-1 OVC)
Postseason: none
Series History: first meeting

Temple Owls
Thursday, September 26 at Philadelphia, Pa. (away)
2018 Season: 7-11-1 (3-5-1 AAC)
Postseason: AAC Quarterfinals (L, 0-3, UCF)
Series History: CIN leads, 3-2-1 (T1)
Last Time: CIN tied TMP, 2-2 (2ot) at CIN (Oct. 11, 2018)

UConn Huskies
Sunday, Septemer 29 at Storrs, Conn. (away)
2018 Season: 4-14-0 (2-7-0 AAC)
Postseason: none
Series History: CONN leads, 6-4-2 (CONN, W1)
Last Time: CONN def. CIN, 4-0, at CIN (OCt. 14, 2018)

Memphis Tigers
Thursday, October 10 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 17-4-0 (7-2-0 AAC)
Postseason: NCAA First Round (L, 0-3, Wisconsin)
Series History: CIN leads, 10-5-1 (MEM, W1)
Last Time: MEM def. CIN, 5-0, at MEM (Sept. 20, 2018)

Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Sunday, October 13 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 7-10-1 (3-6-0 AAC)
Postseason: none
Series History: CIN leads, 6-2-0 (CIN, W2)
Last Time: CIN def. TLS, 2-1, at TLS (Sept. 23, 2018)

SMU Mustangs
Thursday, October 17 at Dallas, Texas (away)
2018 Season: 10-6-2 (5-4-0 AAC)
Postseason: AAC Quarterfinal (T, 1-1 (3-5 PK), ECU)
Series History: SMU leads, 5-3-2 (SMU, W3)
Last Time: SMU def. CIN, 3-0, at CIN (Sept. 27, 2018)

Houston Cougars
Sunday, October 20 at Houston, Texas (away)
2018 Season: 7-10-2 (3-5-1 AAC)
Postseason: none
Series History: CIN leads, 7-3-2 (T1)
Last Time: CIN tied HOU, 1-1 (2ot), at CIN (Sept. 30, 2018)

USF Bulls
Thursday, October 24 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 15-4-0 (8-1-0 AAC)
Postseason: NCAA Second Round (L, 1-3, #5 Florida State)
Series History: Tied, 11-11-4 (USF, W1)
Last Time: USF def. CIN, 2-1, at USF (Oct. 4, 2018)

UCF Knights
Sunday, October 27 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 10-7-1 (6-3-0 AAC)
Postseason: AAC Semifinal (L, 0-1, Memphis)
Series History: UCF leads, 4-3-2 (UCF, W1)
Last Time: UCF def. CIN, 2-1 (ot), at UCF (Oct. 7, 2018)

ECU Pirates
Thursday, October 31 at Gettler Stadium (home)
2018 Season: 10-6-3 (5-4-0 AAC)
Postseason: AAC Semifinal (L, 0-2, USF)
Series History: CIN leads, 7-2-1 (ECU, W1)
Last Time: ECU def. CIN, 1-0, at ECU (OCt. 26, 2018)

// FOLLOW THE BEARCATS
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can also be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with all using the handle GoBearcatsWSOC. Head Coach Neil Stafford (@UCGaffer) also can be followed on Twitter.